Celebrant Pam Meily Vetter


	Celebrating Life Everyone Has A Story...

Julie Powers was born Juliana Dimitria Golan in 1912, near Middletown, New York, at home on the family farm with the help of a midwife. Her parents had immigrated to America from Poland during the great immigration period from central Europe to the states. She was raised with four sisters and one brother and is survived by Alex Golan Lloyd and Henry Golan. Eventually more of the family came to seek their fortunes in the new world and her uncle Leo in particular was a great influence on her and inspired her sense of adventure by reading to her the National Geographic magazine. She had an idyllic childhood in the countryside and growing up saw the world around her change, introducing to rural America the telephone and the telegraph as means of communication, as Ford brought out its first model T as transport for everyman, and the moving picture shows as entertainment. There were also the occasional barnstorming aviators who toured the rural communities putting on shows and taking young ladies for rides in their open cockpit bi-planes…very exciting for the young Miss Golan.

But it was the musical theater and musical films that caught her attention and her fancy, and the lure of the big city of New York was always primary in her thoughts and in those of her older sister Helena, so when the time came for the young women to leave the farm and spread their wings, Julie and Helena moved to the city and found respectable housing on West 69th Street in the brownstone home of an Italian lady by the name of Carmella. While studying dance and going to all the auditions she could, Julie and her sister worked part-time as hostesses at the exclusive foreign film cinema on 57th Street, called the Little Carnegie Theatre. It was an extremely glamorous small art house cinema that served cocktails, tea or coffee in the lounge foyer and had speakers from the foreign film companies who had no wide spread distribution of films at that time. It was very avant-garde. As a result of her involvement at the theatre, she met many of the moviemakers from England, France, and Germany. In fact, she maintained friendships with some of them for many years and was able to introduce her daughter to them when Stefanie was filming for the first time in England. It was a connection and education that would come in handy many years later.

In 1934, Julie made the giant step to move to Hollywood following through on her dream to perform in films. Finding the most glamourous way to travel West, Julie went to Hollywood by boat through the Panama Canal. She was quite an attractive package with lots of admirers on the ship. The Captain of the ship even invited her to travel to the Far East with him, but she declined. She could have stayed on the ship, but instead she stepped off of the boat and made her way to Hollywood. She lived at the Lido Hotel just north of Hollywood Boulevard near Cahuenga very close to another landmark glamour spot called the Monticito. There was a piano player in the lobby and while having tea one day, she met a young aspiring photographer who would became her first husband and result in her greatest joy… her two children. For her daughter, Stefanie's earliest memory of her mother's sense of style was on those occasions when Julie was going out for an evening, dressed in a black taffeta dress and silver fox stole. Her dress rustled as she leaned down to give a good night kiss and Stefanie could smell the Shalimar perfume on her neck and the gardenia on her purse. Julie's love of classical music and the ballet led to young Stefanie beginning to dance around the house on her toes. Julie bought young Stefanie her first pair of toe shoes and found an experienced ballet master from the Ballet Russe called Michele Panieff and enrolled her daughter in his class for young dancers. Hollywood was a very small town in those days and there were two other young ladies in that same ballet class both of whom would have lives that would criss-cross each other for many years…Natalie Wood and Jill St. John. When it became obvious that Stefanie was not going to meet the physical requirements of the ballet, Julie enrolled her in the American School of Dance to study jazz. When Stefanie auditioned for the film "West Side Story" and was asked to join the cast, Julie was required by law to accompany her under aged daughter to the set, beginning many years of professional chaperoning for Julie. All throughout the school years of her children, Julie had been the chaperone of choice voted by all the kids who looked upon Julie as a surrogate parent but one whose advice was compassionate not judgmental…she was so popular that she collected strays some of whom would find a bed and a hot meal at Julie's house always given with humor and wit. When Stefanie performed in the film "McLintock," Julie stepped in front of the camera, performing as an extra in scenes behind actor John Wayne. As Stefanie's successful career grew over the years, Julie joined her on most of her locations all over the world, enjoying adventures to Egypt, South America, the Far East, Africa, and many other locations, expanding her horizons.

Julie's long relationship with Jack Robinson, a breeder of thoroughbred race horses, gave Stefanie and her brother, Jeff, a chance for a real father figure and wonderful times were shared with him until his untimely death. Julie's happiest times were spent by his side. After his passing, she resumed her close relationship with her daughter traveling with her or to visit her on location, as theirs was an unusually close mother and daughter friendship that lasted throughout Julie's life.

In the 1970's, Stefanie and William Holden were living in Palm Springs with a parrot and a dog, when "Hart to Hart" was sold as a series. Stefanie moved back to LA just around the time her mother's apartment building was going to be turned into condos so she invited her mother to move in and use the house as a base. Julie was thrilled with the move as she loved spending time with her daughter and having the wonderful pets around for company. When Stefanie started living in Africa part of the year, Julie happily traveled to Kenya with the dogs and the baggage. Oftentimes, it was like the circus leaving town. On one occasion as they were taking off for Kenya, Stefanie was invited by Pan Am to play polo on elephants in Nepal. When Julie heard this news, she said something Stefanie had never heard before, "I've always wanted to go to Nepal." Off they went on another adventure. At this point Julie was 78 and riding elephants through the tall grass of southern Nepal. Since they were in the neighborhood, Stefanie organized a visit to see the Taj Mahal and visit other sites around Northern India where they stayed in the palaces of Rajasthan and Udipour. On the eve of their departure from New Delhi back to London, they were hosted by the Oberoi family to a lovely dinner at a long and beautiful table, shortly before the dinner ended Julie and some ladies excused themselves from the table saying they would be back shortly…two hours later, back in her room Stefanie had a knock on the door and opened it to discover her mother standing there with a diamond in her nose... It wasn't a small diamond either, it was a proper stone pierced in the side of her nose. Julie said that she had always been fascinated by nose rings as far back as when she looked at the photographs in National Geographic as a child showing all the vibrant colors of India and the exotic adornments…interesting that the National Geographic was not published in color until the 1960's…so fanciable was her imagination…

Throughout her travels, Julie shared her homespun humor as she collected people. Everyone loved her. She was feisty, energetic and memorable to those she met. She had many favorites in life. She loved the color beige and had a great appreciation for classical music. Her favorite flowers were peonies and her favorite perfume was Shalimar. With an entertaining spirit, she enjoyed changing everyone's names. She always called Charlene's husband, Richard, by … Roger. And, a couple from England who were named Gilly and Hugh, became Zoey and Max.

Always up for fun, even in her 80's, she was riding horses in Africa. Loved by many, on her 95th birthday, 25 people joined her to celebrate the milestone. Enjoying the moment, even with a feeding tube, Julie asked, "Where's my champagne?" Stefanie made sure she got 20 cc's of champagne right through the tube… and she loved it. Everyone remembers Julie's acerbic wit. Even when she was using a wheelchair, she joked, "I never kiss on the first date." She was very flirtatious and loved men. When she met Omar as he was interviewing for a job at the house, she was watching her favorite TV program, "Dancing With The Stars." She looked at Omar saying, "Do you dance? I could show you a thing or two." She lifted her arms and he lifted her out of her chair and they swayed back and forth …needless to say... He got the job. She had such an uplifting spirit. She was also spiritual as she meditated and practiced long-distance healing with a healer in Wales. Julie was open to metaphysics and her philosophy was, "Let go and let God." She had all of the Saints around her, especially Saint Anthony and Saint Jude. In many ways, her daughter, Stefanie, was both her hobby and her purpose in life. To love her daughter was her greatest gift. Julie's last words to Stefanie were, "I love you, baby…"

Stefanie will miss her mother... her friend: "She gave me the opportunity to wean myself from her in the past year and a half since her first brush with death… she was the ballast in my life. Looking at our parents, all children have to learn that there is a beginning, middle and end. She taught me everything until the end. She even taught me how to die."

Julie Powers was a fighter all the way. She was a tenacious survivor, who was never going to give up. As she's on a journey right now, her spirit will be set free when her ashes are scattered at sea by her family and friends. May she be remembered for her beautiful smile…

Memorial donations are welcome in Julie Powers' name to the William Holden Wildlife Foundation www.whwf.org.